Artificial fishing bait



sepia 1935- L. w. WEESNER 2,013,226

ARTIFICIAL FISHING BAIT Originl Filed April 11, 1934 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY$ ate nted- Sept. 3, i935 UNITE STATS PATENT OFFICE Lehn w. Weesner, Cincinnati, Ohio Original application April 11, 1934, Serial No. 720,018. Divided and this application July 12, e V 1935, Serial No. 31,120

.2 Claims. (CI. 43-42) This invention relates to artificial bait for fishmore fully apparent from a description of the ing, and is particularly directed to a bait or lure accompanying drawing, in which: of thecharacter adaptable for casting or trolling. Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved This application is divisional of co-pend ng applibait or lure.

cation Serial No. 720,018, filed April 11, 1934. Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1.

It is an object of the present invention to pro- Figure 3 is a, sectional view taken on line 3-3, vide .an improved artificial fishing bait or lure Figllus the details of the eehstluewhich has, to an unusual extent, the appearance tion of the bait and the arrangement of the of a m nnow, and which as moved through the feathers.

wateraccurately simulates the action of a min- Figure 4 is a view showing the whirling now, that is, gives the appearance of being alive pinner device used in conjunction with the bait and swimming, and includes for this purpose a for causing greater action of the feathers.

novel arrangement of athers or their equiva- The artificial bait or lure as disclosed in the lents. drawing is constructed of lead and feathers or n is a further object of this invention to prothe the. The l ad formed head 5 or the. bait. vide a feathered bait of this character-in conf r he purp se f s mu a n th h ad f a junctio with which a device is incorporated in m nn w, s app p at y d t d with ey s 6 ront of the bait which will rotate rapidly a and formed to include a mouth 1. The hook 8 drawn through the wate and 111 c t te for the bait has a shank 9 passing longitudinally the lifelike appearance of the bait or lure by through the ad. n ot er words, t e cast head causing a fluttering, pulsating or dilating action is molded about the shank of the hook.

of the feathers graphically representative of the he eyelet end ID of the hook is Projected breathing of the minnow and its fin action. through t e nose II or th mp of attach- It is astill further object of this invention to mellt 0f the bait to the cus y fishing n provide a bait which i of strong d b (not shown), or for the attachment of various struction easily assembled, and in wh ch the parts devices which y be d w n h fi h will not becom separated if undue longitudinal line and the bait of this invention. The rear or strain occurs, tending to pull the bait apart. barb end l3 of the hook projects outwardly and These objects have been fulfilled in a novel forwardly n the usual mannerstructure incorporating for these purposes a hook It is prefe bl in casting o molding the ad 39 having its shank embedded in a head, hackles of about the shank of the hook to incorporate a feathers or the like secured to the shank of the head of lead l4 on some sort of p o ub ra ce in hook and the head respectively, these feathers by the shank of the hook, whereby W t e lead virtue of their mounting being spaced apart t head is cast about the shank there will be no provide an annular space. This annular Space chance for displacement of thehook, that is to permits freedom of movement of the outer or longitudinal W d awal as undue load is circumferentially arranged hackle or layer of thrown on the hookus a s may be us d feathers, whereby they can fiutter,'pu1sat or for preventing this longitudinal displacement, dilate, givin an excellent simulation f th live many of which means are well known in the minnow in action. I art. 40

The action of the feathers may be greatly e hOdy 0f the artificial mihhOWliS P increased by the use of a water driven rotating y formed of tWO kinds of feathersh inteor spinning device in front of th feathers t drlor feathers l5 may be hackle or chicken feathing t create a whirling or.centflfugal action ers, whereas the outer feathers l6 may be duck abo t; th feathers greatly agitating t same, feathers, preferably mallard. The inner feathers I The structure herein disclosed is extremely are selected for length and are very slender. The effective in view of the fact that the feathers inner grou or heekle of feathers is s d to areseparated and are not provided in great quanthe h ok by m s of cord, indicated at IT. The tity. Therefore they cannot become matted toouter hackle of feathers is fastened to the rear gether to form a dead mass. The circumferenperipheral surface of the head or neck portion tially arranged hackle or' layer moves freely in, thereof. These outer feathers are selected and relation to the'inner or tail hackle which extends applied in the following manner.

rearwardly beyond the outer layer. Long feathers l8, not quite as long as the hackle Other objects and further advantages will be feathers, are first placed around the neck and l9 are used. It will be seen that this arrangement of feathers permits a great deal of movement and the body of the artificial mirmow can dilate or flutter as the bait moves through the water. Thisaction of the feathers can be accentuated or increased by a whirling action imparted from any suitable means placed in front thereof,

-'such.as will be described hereinafter.

The arrangement of, feathers provides an annular space, and accordingly the outer hackle of feathers or the circumferentially arranged group is-generally out of contact with the inner or tail hackle. It will be noted that the inner feathers. project out and cause the appearance of the tail as at 29.

It will be noted that the feathers are projected generally longitudinally of the bait and give the of the plate.

appearance of the body of the minnow. Since a space is provided, the outer group takes the position of a layer. Since the space is present, there is no chance for matting or massing of the groups of feathers, which result would be prohibitive to free movement and the true simulation of the minnow.

As shown in Figures 1 to 3 of the drawing, a deflector or wabble disc or plate 2i may be provided in front of the head. This plate'and the,

details thereof are retained as the subject matter of the case from which this application is divided, but for the purpose of a complete description are described herein.

The plate 2| is fiat and is inclined forwardly and upwardly. Itis fastened to the eyelet by means'of a special screw 22 passed loosely through the eyelet and screwed through the tail portion 7 The tail portion or rearward extension of the plate includes a bridge portion or strap 23 which lies across the nose of the minnow. This steadies the plate in position on the minnow and prevents any rotation on the screw.

threaded pilot tip is provided. This centers the screw in the hole in the plate for insertion and it is readily possible to start the screw without difiiculty.

The extension of the disc is ap'ertured as at 25 between the bridge and the screw-threaded aperture, whereby the plate can be inserted over the eyelet of the hook, disposing the plate against the underside of the eyelet with the bridge disposed over the :nose of the head. This plate or disc includes an aperture 26 at its forward end for the attachment of a leader or line thereto, whereby the bait can be cast or drawn through the water.

The action of the bait when drawn through the water is sinuous, that is to say, the bait weaves back and forth laterally as a result of the pressure of the inclined plate against the water. This plate elevates the bait or lure tending to keep it fairly close to the surface. It will be appreciated that the bait is weighted by means of the lead head in the preferred use, and would sink deep in the water if it were not for the elevating effect produced by the plate.

' creasing the movement of the feathers. For this purpose a spinner device 21, shown .in Figure 4, is attached to the eyelet. A leader 28 forms the rotative or axial support-for the spinner device. The wire length constituting the leader has one end bent to provide an eyelet 29 in the end thereof, the support terminal being reversely bent to lie along the length of the leader. A sleeve or tube 30 slidably mounted on the leader is slipped over the extended end thereof for locking the eyelet in position on'the fixed eyelet of the halt.

The spinner device is mounted on the leader whirl or rotate'as the spinner is drawn through the water. This spinner device beside creating light flashes which attract the fish, which is the conventional use of the. spinner device, causes a whirling action of the water about the bait. This disturbance is eifective on, the feathers for causing dilation of the circumferentially arranged group. l V

The action of the feathers, which may be described as fiuttering, quivering or pulsating, makes the bait appear to be a.live in a true simulation of the minnow since the effect is that of breathing and fin movement.

Having described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a lure, the combination of a head, ahook having a shank embedded in the head, a hackle of feathers or the like secured to the shank of the hook at the rear of the head in the'plane of the barb and extending rearwardly from the curved portion of the hook, and a second hackle of feathers or the like circumferentially surrounding the first hackle, secured to the rear peripheral surface of the head and forming with the first hackle an annular space, the first hackle extending rearwardly a greater distance thanthe second hackle.

2. In a lure having a water driven rotatable means at the forward end thereof for creating activity of the water, the combination of a head, a hook having a shank embedded in the head, a hackle of-feathers or the like secured to the shank of the hook at the rear of the head in theplane the first hackle an annular space wherebythe activated water will agitate the circumferentially disposed hackle, the said first named hackle being rigidly coaxially secured to the shank of the hook wherebyagitation of the water and the. outer 

